F 
73.67 

W3M17 


1 


^vV)-':-.,'^,^/';./;^^*':-:^. :, 


We  have  issued  this  little  book  at  this 
time  to  mark  another  era  in  the  history 
of  our  business.  We  hope  that^  aside 
from  the  personal  references  contained^ 
it  will  prove  of  interest  and  value  from 
an  historical  viewpoint. 

MACULLAR  PARKER  COMPANY 
June,  IQ18. 


'^^ 


SOME  OLD   SITES 

i^  ON  AN  '^ 

OLD   THOROUGHFARE 

And  an  Account  of  Some  Early 
Residents  Thereon 


^mm%mm^^ 


PRINTED    FOR 
MACULLAR    PARKER    COMPANY 


m 


BOSTON 


r 


Copyright,  1918 

BY 

Macullar  Parker  Company 


rj{'  15  ii    ^//,'A />/>/^/>y/  •^y/zYY'//'.   iii)>yi¥i'L 

Business  Card  of  the  old  Washington  Cofee  House 


The  heading  to  page  $  is  from  an  engraving  published  in  "Gleasons  Pictorial' 

and  shows  a  portion  of  the  east  side  of  Washington  Street  from 

Franklin  Street  south  in  i8^j 

Research  Work  by  Walter  K.  Watkims 


arranged  and  printed  by  direction  of 

walton  advertising  &  printing  co. 

boston,  mass. 


3.fo7 


^  ^mmm  foreword  m^. 

rj  a  previous  history  of  Washington  Street  pubhshed  by  us,  facts 
were  presented  concerning  that  section  of  the  great  thoroughfare 
between  School  and  Milk,  Summer  and  \\'inter  Streets  where  the  house 
of  Macullar  Parker  has  been  located  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

Washington  Street  undoubtedly  is  the  most  notable  and  probably 
the  longest  highway  in  New  England.  Beginning  as  little  more  than 
a  blazed  trail,  it  has  from  century  to  century  wound  its  irregular  way 
until  it  has  reached  beyond  Massachusetts  borders  into  Rhode  Island 
without  changing  its  name.  It  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  first 
road  laid  out  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  and,  according  to  an  order 
of  June,  1636,  it  was  begun  as  a  footpath  which  led  over  the  Neck  to 
Roxbury.  The  order  which  concerns  this^  famous  "High  Waye 
towards  Roxburie"  in  the  year  1636  is  to  the  effect  that  "there  shall 
be  a  sufficient  footway  from  William  Coleburne's  field-end  into 
Samuel  Wyeborne's  field-end  next  Roxbury,  by  the  surveyors  of 
highways  before  the  last  of  the  5th  month." 

This  order  shows  that  there  were  surveyors  of  highways  in  the 
Colony  at  this  early  date.  Early  Washington  Street  is  supposed  to 
have  extended  from  the  corner  of  Dover  Street  to  the  northerly 
Roxbury  line,  which  was  the  south  end  of  Boston  Neck.  The  early 
road  laid  out  towards  Roxbury  was  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  present 
Washington  Street,  very  near  the  beach,  the  road  starting  from  near 
Beach  Street. 

We  count  it  a  privilege  to  tell  the  tale  of  these  early  days  and  to 
place  a  permanent  record  of  them  in  the  hands  of  readers  of  history. 
The  house  of  Macullar  Parker  has  gathered  these  interesting  facts 
concerning  the  former  title-holders  of  the  sites  it  has  occupied  on 
Washington  Street,  and  has  recalled  various  associations  connected 
with  former  residents.  As  we  have  read  the  records  of  these  early 
days,  it  seems  but  a  short  while  ago  that  the  Market  Place  existed 
and  in  the  Puritan  households  were  enacted  the  stirring  scenes  of 
the  Revolution,  while  the  stage  coaches  accompanied  by  the  crack  of 
drivers'  whips  and  baying  hounds  drove  up  to  the  Washington  Coffee 
House  and  the  old  Marlborough  Hotel  that  travellers  might  be  re- 
freshed. So  we  bring  them  back — those  days — in  which  "mine  host" 
plays  no  small  part,  and  in  which  industry  and  trade  contribute  a 
valuable  furtherance  not  only  to  the  history  of  the  Street  but  also  to 
its  development. 

3 


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m^   SOME   OLD    SITES   ON   AN   OLD    '^ 
THOROUGHFARE 


THE   HIGH   ROAD   AND  THE   MARKET   PLACE 

V^!^HE  business  life  and  social  activities  of  early  Boston  centred 
^^^  about  the  Market  Place  near  the  site  of  the  present  Old  State 
House.  In  less  than  two  years  after  the  order  was  issued  for  the 
establishment  of  a  Market  Place,  the  "High  Road  to  Roxbury" — now 
Washington  Street — was  laid  out.  The  first  settlers  located  along  the 
harbor  front  at  the  North  End  and  Bendall's  Cove,  later  known  as  the 
Town  Dock.  As  business  increased  about  the  Alarket  Place,  home- 
steads were  granted  inland,  following  closely  the  line  of  Washington 
Street  which  passed  the  Market  Place,  the  Governor's  Spring,  and  the 
Watering  Place  at  Bedford  Street — on  over  the  Neck  to  the  mainland. 
The  market  was  at  first  kept  open  on  Thursdays,  when  a  public  lecture 
was  held.  A  tavern — the  first  to  appear  in  Boston — was  opened  by 
Samuel  Cole,  and  John  Coggan  opened  the  first  shop  of  merchandise. 
Within  ten  years  from  the  laying  out  of  the  "High  Road  to  Roxbury," 
the  lots  along  it  were  granted  on  both  sides  of  the  way  as  far  south  as 
Boylston  Street.  Running  east  from  the  main  street  was  a  lane 
leading  to  a  windmill  near  Fort  Hill.  This  road  was  known  as  Mill 
Lane  and  is  the  Summer  Street  of  to-day. 

The  Market  Place,  as  time  went  on,  came  to  be  the  gathering-ground 
of  the  colonists.  The  life  of  the  community  centred  there,  and  as  the 
outlying  districts  became  populated  the  country  people  were  wont 
to  ride  "into  town"  to  do  their  trading  and  to  learn  the  news.  There 
is  an  old  legend — the  truth  of  which  has  never  been  vouched  for,  but 
which  is  nevertheless  interesting  and  has  been   repeated  over  many 

5 


The  First 

Market 

Place 

The  ''High 
Road  to 
Roxbury  ^^ 


An  Old 
Legend 
which 


SITES  on  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 


a  cup  of  steaming  cider — which  concerns  the  rural  swain  who  rode  into 
the  Market  Place,  with  his  best  girl  mounted  behind  him  on  a  sub- 
A  Hogshead  stantial  horse.  Prancing  up  to  a  stoop  on  which  was  a  hogshead  of 
^■^  '^  ^^  molasses,  he  called  out  to  his  companion,  "Now,  Sally,  you  jump  off 
and  I'll  go  put  up  the  horse  and  come  arter  you!"  Sally  did  jump, 
depositing  her  solid  weight  on  the  head  of  the  hogshead — which  gave 
way  and  propelled  her  into  syrupy  depths.  Farther  and  farther  she 
sank,  to  Jonathan's  dismay.  Suddenly  he  turned  and  dashed  with 
frantic  gallops  up  Washington  Street,  muttering  as  he  went,  "I'll  be 
dod  durned  if  I  pay  for  that  ere  molasses."  Sally  struggled  in  the 
meantime  from  her  close  but  sweet  imprisonment  in  the  hogshead  at 
the  Market  Place. 

EARLY   TRADES-PEOPLE   OF    BOSTON 

The  First       It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  first  settler  on  the  site  of  the  stores  of 

Settler  on  the  Macullar  Parker  was  a  tailor  by  the  name  of  Richard  Hogg.     His 

Stores  of  story  and  a  half  thatched  cottage  of  wood  was  no  greater  contrast  to 

Macullar  the  present  buildings  than  was  his  trade  compared  to  the  volume  of 

Parker  business  transacted  to-day.     The  clothes  of  those  early  citizens  were 

modest  in  cut  and  hue,  and  were  worn  to  the  extent  of  their  usefulness 

Hogg  sells  rather  than  being  changed  by  the  fashion  of  the  day.     Whether  success 

his  Business  qj-  failure  in  his  trade  was  the  cause  of  the  change,  Hogg  disposed  of 

j^IIqj.  his  house  and  business  in   half  a   dozen  years  to  John  Lake — also  a 

tailor. 

Early       A  great  number  of  the  early  trades-people  of  Boston  came  of  the 

Trades-  older   and   prominent   families   of   England.      Edward,    a   brother  of 

of  Boston  J°^^  Lake,  was  Chancellor  of  the  Diocese  of  Lincoln,  England,  and 

Advocate-General  for  Ireland.     He  was  also  made  a  baronet.    Another 

brother,  Thomas,  whose  grandson  succeeded  him  to  the  baronetcy  in 

171 1,  was  a  prominent  merchant  of  Boston. 

A  Saddler       In  1648  the  tailor's  shop  was  replaced  by  that  of  another  trade,  and 

occupies  Thomas  Wiborne,   a  saddler,  of  a  prominent  Kentish  family,  began 

business  there.     Wiborne  came  from  the  same  locality  as  did  Governor 

Hinckley  of  the  Plymouth  Colony.     In  the  rear  of  the  saddler's  shop 

were   several   other  workers   of   leather:  Henry   Rust,   glover;    John 

Barry,    tanner;     John    Marion,    shoemaker;     John    Gilbert,    tanner; 

Nathaniel  Bishop,  currier.     There  was  a  lane  at  the  rear  of  Wiborne's 

house,  about  two  hundred  or  more  feet  back  from  Washington  Street, 


SITES  011  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE  7 

extending  from  Milk  to  Summer  Streets.  From  these  workers  of 
leather  at  different  periods  the  lane  was  known  as  Wiborne's,  Gilbert's, 
and  Bishop's  Lane.     It  is  now  Hawley  Street. 

Thomas  Wiborne's  son  mortgaged  his  house  and  garden  in  1685  to    The  Estate 
Simon  Lynda,  a  prosperous  merchant,  formerly  of  London  and  Holland,   passes  to 
Lynde  died   in   1687,  leaving  a  good  estate  to  his  children.     Of  his    j     j^^ 
property,  the  Wiborne  house  came  to  Samuel  Lynde,  a  son,  as  part 
of   his    share.     Samuel    Lynde    married    Mary    Ballard,    daughter   of 
Jarvis  Ballard,  and  to  them  was  born  a  daughter,  Mary,  who  married 
John  \  alentine,  a  lawyer. 

Mr.   Lynde  in    1709  gave  to  Mary  and   her  husband   the  Wiborne    The  Wiborne 
estate.     It  had  a  frontage  of  fifty-five  feet  on  Marlborough  Street,   "o^-f*? 
as  that  part  of  Washington  Street  had  already  been  named,  in  honor 
of  the  great  Duke  of  Marlborough.     Other  parts  of  Washington  Street 
were  then  known  as  Orange,  Newbury,  and  Cornhill. 

JOHN   VALENTINE'S   HOUSE  AND   SUCCESSORS 

The   year   following   his    marriage,  John  Valentine   built  on   Marl-    Valentine 

borough    Street  a  brick   house  with  a  front   of  about  forty-seven  feet   ^^^'^f  ^ 

'  •  •         Bftck  Hoxisc 

and  a  depth  of  twenty-six  feet.     In  the  rear  was  a  wooden  addition 

for  a  kitchen.     The  old    house   of  the  first   settlers — of   timber   and    The  Settlers' 

about  eighteen   feet  square — Valentine  removed  to  the  lower  part  of   House 
,  .  ,       J  ^1111  removed  to 

his  orchard,  on  the  back  lane.  Valentine's 

V^alentine  prospered.  He  was  prominent  in  civil  affairs,  a  notary  Orchard 
public,  and  Advocate-General  for  the  Crown  for  Northern  New 
England.  He  acted  as  attorney  in  many  prominent  cases  in  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  As  the  years  went  on,  a  nervous 
breakdown  seemed  imminent,  and,  suffering  from  melancholia,  John 
\'alentine  hung  himself  with  his  sash  in  an  upper  chamber  of  his  house 
in   1724. 

Soon  after  her  father's  death,  Elizabeth  Valentine  married  Joseph   Joseph 

Gooch,  a  lawyer.     His  wife's  wealth,  as  well  as  his  own,  gave  Gooch   ^^?^^,  "'f"-^ 

•  1         ,1,11,  -n  -1         •••r>  L         Elizabeth 

an  idea  that  he  should  have  a  more  iniiuential  position  in  Boston  than    y^igj^i-iyig 

his  fellow-townsmen  were  willing  to  concede.     He  therefore  changed 

his   residence   to   Braintree,   where   he   succeeded   in   being  elected   a 

representative  to  the  General  Court.     His  ambition  was  not  satisfied     ■ 

with  this,  and  he  aimed  to  be  made  colonel  of  the  Suffolk  Regiment 

of  the  militia.     Influence  was  brought  to  bear  on  Governor  Shirley, 


SITES  on  a?i  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 


and  the  colonel  of  the  regiment,  John  Quincy,  was  dismissed  and  Gooch 
appointed  in  his  place.  The  officers,  indignant  at  the  dismissal  of 
Quincy  and  also  at  Gooch's  very  apparent  avarice,  refused  to  serve 
under  Gooch,  and  after  a  two  years'  term  the  people  of  Braintree 
elected  another  representative.  So  indignant  was  Colonel  Gooch,  he 
removed  to  Milton. 

The  Valentine  property  went  to  Mrs.  Joseph  Gooch   and  to  her   Valentine 
brother,    Thomas    Valentine,    who    married    Elizabeth,    daughter   of   "'''^P^J^y 
James  Gooch — a  half  brother  of  Col.  Joseph  Gooch.     By  a  partition  jj/^j.    Joseph 
of  1 741,  the  house  in  Marlborough  Street  went  to  Joseph  Gooch  and   Gooch 
his  wife.     It  had  various  tenants.     About  1730,  Abel  Kiggell  occupied 
half  of  the  house.     He  married  a  daughter  of  Ensign  Edward  Breck. 
Kiggell   died   in    1742,   and   his   widow   married   in    1749   Col.  Joseph 
Buckminster  of  Framingham.     While  Kiggell  rented  the  house,  the 
shop  was  occupied  by  William  Rallue  (or  Rillow). 

John  Gooch,  son  of  Col.  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  Gooch,  was  born  in 
1737,  and  was  married  in  1770,  shortly  after  his  father's  death,  to 
Sarah  Weaver  of  Milton.  They  occupied  the  Valentine  house  pre- 
vious to  the  Revolution.     During  the  Revolution,  John  Gooch  saw  John  Gooch 

active   service   as   a   captain   of  the  iQth  Continental  Infantry,   and  ■^^''^'^■f  "M^^ 

Revolution 
he  served  as  assistant  deputy  quartermaster  general,  and  he  was  also 

a  Commissary  of  the  Forage  and   had   the   rank  of  major.      Major 

John  died  in   1784 — fourteen  years  after  the  death  of  his  ambitious 

father. 

Adam  Colson  in  1780  obtained  possession  of  the  northerly  portion 
of  the  house.  Colson  was  by  trade  a  leather  dresser.  John  Colson, 
his  father,  had  his  apprentices  plant  the  Paddock  elms  on  Tremont 
Street,  in  front  of  the  Granary  Burying-ground,  in  the  first  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  The  son,  Adam,  was  an  active  patriot,  a  Adam 
member  of  St.  Andrew's  Lodge,  which  met  at  the  Green  Dragon.  Golson, 
Adam  was  also  a  member  of  the  Long  Room  Club,  which  met  over 
Franklin's  printing-office  in  Queen  (now  Court)  Street. 

On  the  night  of  the  Boston  Tea  Party  in  1773,  it  was  young  Colson 
who  shouted  from  the  gallery  of  the  Old  South  Meeting-house: 
"Boston  Harbor  a  teapot  to-night!" 

Colson,  after  buying  the  house  in  1782,  petitioned  to  have  a  license   Colson 
to  keep  a  tavern,  as  the  location  was  favorable  for  the  entertainm.ent   P'^^'^^ohj  to 
of  the  General  Court  and  others  from  the  country.     After  the  Revo-    favem 
lution  he  kept  a  shop  in  the  house,  leaving  on  his  death  in   1798  a 


SITES  on  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 


II 


large  stock  of  goods  for  his  widow,  Christian  (or  Christiana)  Colson. 
While  the  name  of  Marlborough  Street  was  given  in  1708  to  that 
part  of  Washington  Street  now  between  School  and  Summer  Streets, 
the    name    of  Washington    Street    had    been    conferred    on    the    part 


TO  -BE  SOLD,  By 

Adam  Collfon, 


ju  this  fon 

can  could  temper 

OD  was  hoc, 

never  wa»  fritd, 
•s  of  the  lainl  > 
id  can't  be  denied, 


to  do  ; 
',  in  Ills  time 


At  the  Sij;n    of  the   Buck    and  G*.uvr,    in 

J\IjJ-liutOuglr-Stre:rt,    No.  JC. 

A  Good  iiflmtment  o^ErigUpGoods, 

■^  ^  and  the  U;ft  tf  UW^u's  cluth  Shoes  fi 
Shppcrs;  Men  ik.  VYomen'»  Oloves  as  ufu^i  — 
He  h.'S  alfo  larbule,  a  rery  genteel  Chariot, 
ftroug  and  hanJlon-w;,  with  a  good  pair  of 
Bay  KrtRsSs,  an  tjcellent  fecond  h«nd  Chaift 
and  tiuikey,  in  complere  order  ;— Alfo,  one 
doubU  and  one  lin^Je  Horfe  Sleigh. — As  Jie 
iiitcu>ls  to  Jeave  the  I'uwa,  in  about  ci£ht  or 
nine  Week!«. 
g^  TL'ft  -wLo  are  Jifp-fi^J  to  PurcLjfe,  fo.iU 
bitvi:   a    lijrgain. 

I       jV.  B.  Any  Petfon  difptJed  to  purchafe  the 
afpin,  no  kiudrcd  U  '  "'"■^'^*  ""^  Carriages,  paying  Jialf  th.c  Money 

j  down,  may  have  Credit  for  one  year,  for  the 
remainder,  giving  ftcurjty  for  the  fame. 

His  HOUSE  will  be  to  Let,  and 

it  is  In  very  good  Repair,  an  excellent  good 
Stand  Td'  Bufinefs,  a  gof>d  Well  of  Water, 
never  Jels  than  13  feet  of  water  in  the  dryeft 
time,  a  handfomc  paved  Yard,&  a  goodG^u-dcn. 

ho  will)  Bo(!in,   .Sef,t_.    18.    l-iQ3 


on,  but  'Ai!l 


I'ow  n 

leave  to 

A  great  . 

Engiifli,  aiiu 
facSurcdbyhiru 
Cloaks,    &c. 
Alfo,  atVcfiifu, 
fuitahle  foi 

MufFs  and  Tip 

the  neweft  Caihion,  I'lr 
which  he  wiH  warr 
reduced  ready  Moi 
£^  He  is  happy  i 
preference   has   be< 
bulincfs — to  merit  ; 
tinguifhed  patronage 
dcavour. — All  ordc 
ledged. 


I 


extending  from  Dover  Street  to  near  the  Roxbury  line  less  than  a 
decade  before  the  death  of  Adam  Colson.  The  change  occurred  when 
the  nation's  first  President  visited  Boston  in  1789,  though  his  name 
was  not  given  to  the  whole  thoroughfare  until  1824,  when  Cornhill, 
Marlborough,  Newbury,  and  Orange  Streets  "became  one  in  name 
as  well  as  in  fact." 

The  house  and  shop  of  Adam  Colson  in  1798  was  a  three-story  brick 
building  covering  1,332  square  feet,  and  the  land  in  the  rear  amounted 
to  about  i2,cxDO  square  feet.  On  Bishop's  Alley  was  a  two-story 
wooden  house  covering  1,674  square  feet.  Christian  (or  Christiana) 
Colson  carried  on  her  husband's  business  for  six  years  and  then 
married  John  Baker,  a  widower  of  Dorchester.  She  w^as  Mrs.  John 
Baker  the  third.     Her  business  career  having  given  place  to  domestic 


12 


SITES  on  a7i  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 


Capt. 

Benjamin 

and  John 

Homans — 

Booksellers 


Advertise- 
ment by 
James 
Murphy 


Ralph 

Waldo 

Emerson 

lives  ill 

Bishop's 

Jllev 


felicity,  the  shop  was  occupied  from  1804  to  1806  by  Capt.  Benjamin 
and  John  Homans — booksellers.  The  former  won  some  distinction  in 
Government  service,  having  in  181 1  been  appointed  Secretary  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  and  in  1813  chief  clerk  of  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment at  Washington.  In  1823  Captain  Homans  was  appointed  Naval 
Storekeeper  at  Portsmouth,  but  this  new  post  was  his  for  a  very  short 
time,  as  he  died  at  Georgetown,  D.C.,  in  December  of  that  year. 

The  Homans  were  succeeded  as  tenants  by  James  Murphy,  who 
continued  there  until  1823.  After  the  War  of  1812-1815,  the  shop  did 
an  active  business,  as  will  be  seen  from  Mr.  Murphy's  advertisement: 

"Cheap  Goods — No.  50  Marlboro  St.  bv  James  Murphy.  A  variety  of 
English  and  French  Goods,  which  will  be  sold  at  about  peace  prices. 

"Also  a  large  assortment  of  elegant  Looking  Glasses,  Britannia  Tea  Pots, 
silver  Table  and  Tea  Spoons. 

"Gold  Necklaces,  together  with  a  quantity  of  other  goods. — To  be  Let — 
a  Brick  House. 

"Also — two  apartments  in  a  back  Store  suitable  for  a  mechanic"  {Columbian 
Centinel,  8  Feb.  181 5). 

Mr.  Murphy  had  married  in  1803  Betsey,  sister  of  David  Colson 
Moseley,  children  of  Unite  Moseley  and  Eliza,  sister  of  Adam  Colson. 

In  1822  the  dry  goods  shop  of  Jacob  Myers  was  at  50  Marlborough 
Street,  and  the  next  year  Edward  Callender  sold  fancy  goods  there, 
and  Thomas  Bicknell,  a  shoe  dealer,  appears  to  have  set  up  business 
in  the  shop.  In  the  rear  of  Mrs.  Baker's  lot  a  house  fronted  on  Bishop's 
Alley,  and  a  part  of  it  was  a  livery  stable  for  the  first  quarter  of  the 
last  century,  the  business  being  carried  on  by  Andrew  Morton — 
hackman. 

THE   PHILOSOPHER   IN    BISHOP'S    ALLEY 

In  the  house  connected  with  it,  during  that  period,  were  many 
tenants,  among  them  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  who  lived  there  in  1823, 
shortly  after  his  graduation  from  Harvard.  The  previous  year  he  had 
assisted  his  brother  William  in  a  school  for  young  ladies  which  had 
been  established  at  their  mother's  house  on  Williams  (now  Mathews) 
Street  in  Boston.  "I  was  nineteen,"  recalled  Emerson,  "had  grown 
up  without  sisters,  and  in  my  solitary  and  secluded  way  of  living, 
had  no  acquaintance  with  girls.  I  still  recall  my  terrors  at  entering 
the  school;    my  timidities  at  French,  the  infirmaties  of  my  cheek,  and 


SITES  on  mi  OLD    THOROUGHFARE  13 

my  occasional  admiration  of  some  of  my  pupils.  ...  I  was  at  the  very 
time  already  writing  every  night  in  my  chamber  my  first  thoughts 
on  morals  and  the  beautiful  laws  of  compensation  and  of  individual 
genius,  which  to  observe  and  illustrate  have  given  sweetness  to  many 
years  of  my  life."  "Better  tug  at  the  oar,"  he  wrote  towards  the 
close  of  a  school  year,  "dig  the  mine,  or  saw  wood;  better  sow  hemp 
or  hang  with  it,  than  sow  the  seeds  of  instruction."  While  teaching 
Emerson  lived  in  Bishop's  Alley,  studying,  observing,  writing,  a  part 
of  the  Boston  world — but  not  of  it;  content  in  seclusion  to  listen  to 
the  great  preachers  of  the  day.  He  brushed  shoulders  with  those  who 
frequented  thriving  Marlborough  Street,  and  midnight  found  him 
poring  over  his  books,  or  inscribing  the  philosophy  which  has  guided 
thousands. 

OCCUPANTS  OF  50  ^ff  51  MARLBOROUGH  STREET 

Mrs.   Baker's   husband  died  in  1818,  and   thereafter  she  resided   in 
different  parts  of  the  town,  at  one  time  with  the  family  of  Benjamin 
Bussey  on   Summer  Street.     In    1825 — the  year  after  Marlborough    Saniuel 
Street  became  a  part  of  Washington  Street  and  50  Marlborough  (the    Sumner  the 
site  of  the  present  store  of  Macullar  Parker  Company)  became  194      ^"     ^"^" 
Washington    Street — Samuel    Sumner    occupied    the    premises.     His    JVashington 
family  had  been  identified  with  the  crockery  and  glassware  trade  for    Street 
three-quarters  of  a  century  in  Boston.     With  Mr.  Sumner  were  his 
sons,  Stephen  Salisbury  and  William  Russell  Sumner,  and  they  occu- 
pied the  store  for  ten  years. 

The  shop  at  192  Washington  Street  in  1836  was  occupied  by  a 
furnishing  warehouse  conducted  by  Ferdinand  Herman,  who  sold  tin 
and  wooden  ware.  Previously  he  had  been  a  maker  of  willow  carriages 
on  Water  and  Brattle  Streets. 

Mrs.  Christian  Baker,  after  surviving  her  husband,  Adam  Colson,    Death  of 
forty-two  years,  died  on  the  second  day  of  December,   1840,  at  the    Mrs.  Baker 
age  of  ninety-seven  years.     She  left  to  David  Moseley  $1,000  and  the    Disposition 
estate  on  Washington  Street  which   had  belonged   to  the  Colsons  for    of  the 
more  than  a  century.     Bequests  were  also  made  to  the  children  of    Property 
James  and   Elizabeth  Murphy.     The  Union  Church   (Essex  Street), 
Amherst   College,   and   the  American  Tract   Society   received  vSi,ooo 
each,   and   the  American   Bible   Society  was   given   $2,000.     Two  of 
Mrs.   Baker's   nieces,   Elizabeth   and   Eleanor  Raynes  of  York,   Me., 


14  SITES  on  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 

were  left  ^i,ooo  each.     The  residue  of  the  estate  went  to  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of   Foreign  Missions  and  the  American  Education  Society. 

A  view  of  194  Washington  Street  as  it  appeared  for  twenty  years — 
between  1843  and  1863 — is  shown  in  an  engraving  pubHshed  in  1853  in 
Gleasoti's  Pictorial*  This  view  also  shows  the  three-story  brick 
building  adjoining  on  the  south,  numbered  196.  This  was  formerly 
51  Marlborough  Street  and  occupied  the  north  half  of  the  site  where 
now  stands  the  building  numbered  400  Washington  Street.  It  was 
built  later  than  the  Valentine  house  erected  in  1710.  At  that  time 
there  was  a  five-foot  passageway  on  the  south  separating  it  from  the 
estate  of  John  Marion,  cordwainer,  which  existed  until  a  decade  or 
two  before  the  Great  Fire  of  1872.  The  building  at  51  Marlborough 
Street  was  disposed  of  by  the  Gooch  heirs  and  came  into  the  possession 
of  Hannah,  wife  of  Henry  Sargent. 

The  shop  was  occupied  by  various  tenants:  McFarlane,  jeweller,  in 

1800;     Thomas   Brewer,   crockery;     Dommett  &   Fairbanks,   harness 

works;   Miss  Fish,  milliner,  in  1815;   Mrs.  Turner's  Toy  Shop,  1820-25; 

Augustus  Peverelly,  confectioner,  1830;    and  Amos  Webster's  Coffee 

House  in   1840  over  the  shop  of  J.  Quincy  Blake,  fancy  goods  and 

jewelry. 

The  Colson-       Mrs.  Sargent  died  in  1841,  and  that  year  her  husband  purchased 

Baker  Estate   the  adjoining  property  on  the  north — the  Colson-Baker  estate — from 

purchased  ^^^  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  and  American  Education 
by  ii€7iT\ 
Sargent   Society.     Daniel  Sargent,  father  of  Henry,  was  a   merchant  largely 

interested  in  the  fish  trade.     Henry,  born  in  Gloucester  in  1770,  was 

one  of  six  sons  all  of  whom  attained  a  considerable  degree  of  prominence 

in  Boston.     The  one  best  known  is  Lucius  Manlius  Sargent,  writer. 

Henry  was    gifted  as  an  artist,  and  one  of    his  first  attempts  was  a 

landscape  on  the  walls  of  a  summer-house  in  his  father's  garden  on 

Atkinson    (now    Congress)    Street,    Boston.     When    very    young    he 

made  a  copy  of  Copley's  "Watson  and  the  Shark,"  which  Trumbull, 

when  in  Boston  in  1790,  praised  with  other  work  of  the  young  artist. 

Sargent  went  to  London  in   1793,  where  he  had  the  advice  of  both 

West  and  Copley. 

Sargent's       Art  did  not  lure  Henry  Sargent  so  far  that  he  forgot  his  country. 

Military  ^nd  there  remain  records  of  his  military  interests.     As  early  as  1799 

he  became  an  orderly  sergeant  of  the  Boston  Light  Infantry,  of  which 

his  brother  Daniel  was  captain.     A  commission  was  oflfered  him  in 

the  regular  army  under  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  was  commander-in- 

•See  Heading  to  Page  5. 


Interests 


SITES  on  a7i  OLD    THOROUGHFARE  15 

chief.  Sargent's  term  was  as  short  as  that  of  Hamilton's.  In  1805 
he  was  first  lieutenant  of  the  Boston  Light  Infantry  and  in  1808  he 
was  promoted  to  the  captaincy.  In  the  defence  of  Boston  in  1814 
his  company  worked  at  Fort  Strong  at  East  Boston  to  prepare  it  for 
the  expected  attack  of  the  enemy,  and  it  was  at  this  time  that  Captain 
Sargent  was  made  an  aid  to  Governor  Strong  with  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel. 

As  a  military  man  he  was  involved  in  the  Elliott-Austin  duel  at  Serves  as 
Providence,  acting  as  second  to  young  James  H.  Elliott,  son  of  Gen.  Second  in 
Simon  Elliott,  who  had  been  traduced  in  the  Chrofiicle  by  William 
Austin.  Mr.  Austin  had  as  his  second  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner, 
father  of  Charles  Sumner.  Throughout  his  service  in  the  army 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Sargent  retained  his  interest  in  painting  and 
engaged  on  a  work  of  some  magnitude. 


AN   ACCOUNT  OF   HENRY   SARGENT'S    PAINTINGS 

Rev.  William  Bentley  of  Salem  in  his  diary  writes  under  the  date 
of  Oct.  7,  1803  :   "Mr.  Emerson  [Rev.  William,  father  of  Ralph  Waldo, 
then   minister  of  the   First   Church   in   Boston,   and   conducting   the 
Monthly   Anthology]    politely   waited    upon   me   to   the   new   Catholic 
Church,    called    Church   of   the   Holy   Cross.  .  .  .  The   altarpiece,    by   ^„  Altar- 
Mr.  Sargent,  is  one  of  the  largest  works  undertaken  in  our  country,    piece  by 
It  has  undoubtedly  great  merit  in  such  circumstances,  but  the  rising   Sargent 
breast  and  knees  did  not  agree  with  my  ideas  of  anatomy,  as  stretching  'Cathedral 
in  death,  especially  in  a  violent  one,  is  proverbial  and  as  when  the    in  Boston 
breast  rises  with  expiring  breath  and  extremities  recedes." 

The  Centinel  of  Oct.  i,  1803,  in  describing  the  church,  states  it  is  Sargent's 
adorned  with  a  very  excellent  picture  of  the  Crucifixion  from  the  Portraits 
pencil  of  Mr.  Henry  Sargent.  What  the  artist's  works  were  between 
1805  and  1815  can  only  be  conjectured.  He  painted  the  portrait  of 
Peter  Faneuil  in  Faneuil  Hall,  copied  after  the  one  by  Copley.  His 
portrait  of  Gen.  Richard  Devens,  who  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-six 
years  in  Charlestown  in  1807,  is  one  of  Sargent's  finest  efforts.  This 
portrait  is  hung  in  the  public  reading-rooms  in  Charlestown.  Richard 
Devens  was  the  son  of  a  Charlestown  cooper,  born  in  1 72 1.  In  1757 
he  was  an  ensign  in  the  expedition  of  that  year  against  the  French. 
When  the  signal  appeared  in  Christ  Church  tower  the  night  before 
the  battle  of  Concord  and  Lexington,  Devens,  a  member  of  the  Com- 


l6  SITES  071  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 

mittee  of  Safety,  despatched  a  messenger  with  the  intelligence  of  a 
British  expedition  to  Arlington  and  Lexington.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Provincial  Congress  1774- 1775  and  on  many 
important  committees.  In  1776  he  was  commissary-general  for  the 
State  and  served  during  the  war.  He  became  a  highly  prosperous 
merchant  and  at  his  death  in  1807,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  he  left 
an  estate  valued  at  about  $120,000,  a  part  of  which  was  bestowed  in 
charity.  His  portrait  by  Sargent  was  bequeathed  to  the  Charles- 
town  Library  by  Miss  Charlotte  Harris,  his  granddaughter,  a  liberal 
benefactor.  Other  subjects  of  Sargent's  work  were  Gen.  Henry 
Knox,  who  died  in  Thomaston,  Me.,  in  1806;  Rev.  John  Clark  of  the 
First  Church,  Boston,  and  Rev.  Jeremy  Belknap,  both  of  whom  died 
in  1798;  Rev.  Jedediah  Morse  of  Charlestown  and  his  wife,  parents  of 
Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  were  also  painted  by  Sargent.  The  artist's  best 
work  is  considered  to  be  that  of  his  son,  John  Turner  Sargent,  painted 
about  1823,  when  the  boy  was  ten  years  old. 
"  The  A  lengthy  advertisement  appeared  in  the  Columbian  Centinel, 
Landing  of  March  4,  1815,  stating  that  the  celebrated  painting  "The  Landing  of 
'V  Ih^^^'  ^^^  Pilgrim  Fathers,"  painted  by  H.  Sargent,  Esq.,  was  being  exhibited 
exhibited  on  near  the  corner  of  Walnut  and  Beacon  Streets,  a  location  in  the  rear 
Beacon  Hil!  of  some  unfinished  buildings  owned  by  Uriah  Cotting  on  the  north 
side  of  Walnut  Street.  Admittance  was  twenty-five  cents  and  season 
tickets  were  one  dollar.  The  canvas  contained  upwards  of  two 
hundred  square  feet  and  had  between  thirty  and  forty  life-sized 
figures.  The  point  of  time  chosen  for  the  picture  was  soon  after  the 
landing  in  1620,  when  Samoset  came  up  boldly  and  alone,  saying, 
"Welcome,  Englishmen!" 

The  advertisement  contained  a  eulogy  on  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  and 

a  request  for  the   patronage  of   the  public.     By  May,   18 15,  it  was 

advertised  that  the  painting  would  probably  be  sent  to  New  York. 

Isaiah  Thomas  in  his  diary  under  the  25th  of  May  said  he  "went  to 

view  Sargent's  painting  of  the  Landing  of  the  forefathers,"  and  he 

said  that  it  was  exhibited  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Exchange  Cofi^ee 

The  House.     After  its  first  exhibition  in  Boston  it  is  said  to  have  been 

Picture  exhibited  about  the  country  and  that  the  rolling  and  unrolling  of  the 

gt'^en   0  ^^j^ygg  cracked  and  completely  ruined  the  painting.     Some  years  later 

Society  the  artist  repainted  the  picture  and  gave  it  to  the  Pilgrim  Society  of 

Plymouth    (Dec.   22,    1824).     It   was   then   described   as   thirteen   by 

sixteen  feet,  with  seventeen  people  represented  in  it,   and  its  value 


SITES  on  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 


Picturr 


was  placed  at  ^3,000.  The  painiing  still  hangs  in  Pilgrim  Hall  at 
Plymouth  and  is  one  of  the  attractions  of  the  town. 
Another  Bentley  wrote  in  his  diary,  Nov.  13,  1817:  "The  picture  of  the 
Sargent  entrance  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem,  by  Sargent,  had  not  the  effect  of 
the  Landing  of  the  Forefathers.  The  eyes  of  Jesus  not  on  things 
around  him,  too  many  devotional  postures  for  common  joys  and  too 
many  positions  of  rest  and  altar  attitudes  being  besides  general 
confusion  from  many  objects  not  characterized  properly."  The  size 
of  this  painting  was  eighteen  by  fifteen  feet  and  an  engraving  was 
made  on  copper  by  J.  R.  Penniman  which  appeared  in  the  Analectic 
Magazine  for  January,  1818. 

Henry  Sargent's  residence  was  at  10  Franklin  Place,  now  Franklin 
Street.  He  is  said  to  have  had  a  studio  at  i  School  Street,  and  in 
1820  he  had  a  room  which  he  used  for  a  studio  in  the  Colson-Baker 
house,  where  probably  he  painted  the  canvas  known  as  "The  Dinner 
Party."  In  the  Centinel  of  May  26,  1821,  the  following  advertisement 
appeared: 

"The  Dinner  Party." 

"The  New  Picture  painted  by  Col.  Henry  Sargent.  Is  open  for  public 
view  at  Mr.  D.  L.  Brown's  room  No.  12  Cornhill  square  adjoining  his  Academy 
every  day  from  9  in  the  morning  till  5  in  the  evening.      Admittance  25  cents." 


Residence 
of  the 
Artist 


Colonel 

Sargent 

elected  a 

Me7nber 

of  the 

American 

Academy  of 

Fine  Arts 


The  exhibition  was  to  close  Sept.  8,  1821,  after  which  the  picture 
was  removed  to  New  York.  On  Dec.  17,  1821,  it  was  again  on 
exhibition.  The  experience  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  proved 
the  convenience  of  exhibiting  by  illumination,  and  the  painting  was 
ready  for  view  every  day  except  Sunday  and  in  the  evenings  until 
nine  o'clock.  Colonel  Sargent's  exhibit  of  the  picture  in  various  cities 
was  followed  by  his  election  as  a  member  to  the  American  Academy 
of  Fine  Arts.  Other  pictures  painted  by  him  were:  "The  Starved 
Apothecary,"  "The  Tailor's  News,"  and  "The  Tea  Party." 


ARMS  of  THE  MERCHANT- 


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22  SITES  011  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 

ANOTHER      NOTABLE      FAMILY     OCCUPIES      THE     OLD 
PREMISES 

The  famous  Colson-Baker  estate  at  192  Washington  Street  besides 
being  associated  with  Colonel  Sargent  was  occupied  by  an  equally 
famous  family — the  Warrens.  Among  the  descendants  of  John 
Warren  who  settled  in  Watertown  in  1 631  was  Josiah  Warren,  a 
captain  of  artillery  in  the  Revolution,  living  at  Brighton.  His  son 
was  Capt.  Joseph  Warren,  a  carpenter,  who  was  also  sexton  of  the 
church  and  maker  of  coffins.  Joseph  in  1797  married  Sally  Brown, 
and  among  their  children  were  George  W.,  John  A.,  Alfred  B.,  and 
James  L.  L.  F.  Warren.  In  1827  the  last-named  opened  a  dry  goods 
store  at  117  Washington  Street,  nearly  opposite  the  head  of  Water 
Street.  He  removed  in  1834  to  85  Washington  Street  at  the  corner 
of  Court  Avenue  near  the  head  of  State  Street.  Later,  his  brothers 
joining  him  in  business,  the  firm  became  George  W.  Warren  &  Com- 
pany. J.  L.  L.  F.  Warren  was  also  interested  in  horticulture  and 
carried  on  the  Nonantum  Vale  Gardens  at  Brighton  from  1820  until 
1845,  where  he  received  many  visitors,  among  them  noted  men  of 
that  period.  Mr.  Warren  travelled  in  Europe,  delivering  temperance 
lectures,  and  he  also  appeared  on  the  American  platform.  He  was  one  of 
those  who  went  to  California  in  '49,  where  he  resided  until  quite  aged. 
George       George   Washington   Warren   carried    on    a    successful   business    at 

Washington  g^  Washington  Street  up  to  1843  when  he  removed  to  192  Washington 
rV  QTven  .      .  .     . 

removes  to  Street.     It  was  at  this  time  that  the  front  of  that  building  was  changed 

IQ2  and  the  windows  of  the  two  upper  floors  enlarged   and  lengthened. 

H  ashington  ^,j[j._  Warren  was  the  pioneer  in  Boston  of  the  one-price  cash  system, 

and  also  of  the  employment  of  women  clerks.     With  the  crash  of  1857 

he  failed,  and  the  following  year  he  was  the  company  in  the  firm  of 

William  B.  Barry  &  Company,  and  later  became  a  buyer  for  Jordan 

Marsh  Company  which  succeeded  to  the  business.     G.  W.  Warren 

later  became  superintendent  for  the  agency  of  the  New  York  Life 

Insurance  Company  and  he  was  also  interested  in  banking  with  Asa  P. 

Potter.     John  A.  Warren,  who  died  about  1895,  was  also  a  salesman 

in  the  store  of  Jordan,  Marsh  &  Company. 


G  W.  WARREN  a  CO, 

DEALtRS  >.H  DRY  GOODS 
N?192  WASHINGTON  ST. 

THE    SITE    OCCUPIED    BY  MACULLAR,   WILLIAMS    &. 
PARKER  IN   i860,  AS  IT  APPEARED    IN   1852 


24 


SITES  071  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 


THACHEK.SHAW  8:  CO 

out  i,roOS 


THE  OLD   MORTON   BLOCK   IN   1852 

Site  occupied  by  Macullar,  IVilliams  ^  Company  in  18^4 


Macullar, 

Williams    iJ 

Company 

removes 

fro  m 

Worcester 

to  North 

Street, 

Boston 


EARLY  DAYS   OF   AN   OLD   CONSERVATIVE   FIRM 

In  a  shop — No.  35 — on  the  right-hand  side  of  North  Street  going 
from  Union  Street  was  located  in  1852  the  firm  of  Macullar,  Williams 
&  Company.  Addison  Macullar,  who  in  1849  with  George  B.  Williams 
and  C.  R.  Moules  opened  in  W^orcester  a  store  for  the  sale  of  ready- 
made  clothing  at  retail,  was  the  founder.  In  1854  the  firm  moved 
to  47  Milk  Street — the  present  corner  of  Milk  and  Devonshire  Streets 
■ — and  below  Morton  Place  (now  Arch  Street)  on  the  north  side  of 
Milk.  During  the  financial  panic  of  1857,  in  order  to  dispose  of  their 
surplus  stock  of  clothing,  the  firm  moved  to  the  Old  Washington 
Coffee  House  building  at  158  Washington  Street.  The  old  Coffee 
House  had  an  interesting  history.  In  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth 
century  it  was  run  as  a  boarding-house  and  then  stood  at  what  was 
37  Marlborough  Street.  It  figured  prominently  in  Boston's  annals 
in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  it  was  known  as 
the  Indian  Queen  Tavern,  and  was  the  stage  house,  or  starting-point 
for  the  Groton  and  Leominster  stages.  About  1820  its  name  was 
changed  to  the  Washington  Coffee  House  and  from  it  started  a  num- 
ber of  stage  routes.  Among  the  stages  which  took  on  and  left  pas- 
sengers at  this  place  were  those  which  ran  to  South  Boston,  Bridge- 


SITES  on  an  OLD   THOROUGHFARE 


25 


water,  Randolph,  Foxboro,  Sharon,  Medfield,  Medway,  Mendon, 
Woonsocket,  Easton,  Stoughton,  and  Taunton.  Here,  too,  was  the 
rendezvous  of  the  Manufacturers  Line  of  Providence  Stages.  It 
ceased  to  be  a  stage  house  in  1855. 

Macullar,  Williams  &  Company  in  i860  removed  to  192  Washington 
Street,  and  it  was  also  in  that  year  that  Mr.  Charles  W.  Parker 
became  a  member  of  the  firm.  The  site,  as  has  already  been  stated, 
had  been  occupied  by  George  W.  Warren  &  Company  for  the  dry 
goods  business. 

A  large  five-foot  passageway,  already  mentioned,  disappeared  when 
400  Washington  Street  front  was  built  in  1864.  Its  site  was  about 
the  centre  of  400  Washington  Street,  where  the  store  occupied  by 
Macullar  Parker  Company  now  is.  South  of  this  in  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  was  the  estate  of  the  Marion  family.  In 
1 741  Joseph  Marion  conveyed  the  property  to  John  Erving,  a  wealthy 
merchant,  who  had  a  pronounced  habit  of  acquiring  other  people's 
real  estate  through  mortgages  held  by  him.  The  property  was 
extensive,  and  included  five  houses,  four  shops,  a  stable,  yards  and 
gardens,  occupied  by  ten  tenants.  The  most  northerly  of  the  houses 
was  of  wood,  three  stories  high,  and  was  occupied  by  numerous  tenants 
during  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  1792  it  passed  from 
the  possession  of  the  heirs  of  William,  son  of  John  Erving,  to  William 
Leach.  The  house  had  a  frontage  of  nineteen  feet  on  Marlborough 
Street,  but  its  depth  was  about  ninety  feet.  On  the  lower  floor  Leach 
had  his  saddler's  shop.  He  lived  on  the  floors  above.  Samuel  Swett, 
a  merchant,  bought  the  property  from  Leach  in  1805,  and  the  same 
year  he  conveyed  it  to  John  Osborn  who  had  begun  his  career  as  a 
painter  on  the  site  of  the  Crown  Cofi"ee  House  on  Long  Wharf.  Later 
Osborn  became  a  prosperous  merchant,  taking  up  his  residence  in 
the  Harrison  Gray  Otis  house — now  the  headquarters  of  the  Society 
for  the  Preservation  of  New  England  Antiquities  on  Lynde  Street. 
On  his  death  Osborn  left  the  Leach  house  to  his  daughter,  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  Alexander  Mactier  of  New  York.  Her  trustee  sold  the 
house  to  Henry  Sargent  in  1842  at  the  same  time  he  bought  the 
Colson-Baker  house.  This  gave  him  the  ownership  of  the  sites  of 
the  two  buildings  which  have  been  occupied  by  Macullar  Parker 
Company. 

The  tenants  of  198  Washington  Street  during  the  first  half  of  the 
last  century  were  numerous  and  varied.     After  Mr.  Sargent  bought 


The  firm  of 

Macullar, 

Williams  i^ 

Company, 

at  IQ2 

Washington 

Street 


SITES  071  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 


27 


the  property  the  wooden  house  was  replaced  by  a  brick  structure, 
shown  in  the  engraving  of  1853.  The  store  was  occupied  by  John 
Fletcher,  a  tea  merchant,  whose  business  was  absorbed  by  Redding  & 
Company  in  1847.  George  W.  Redding  and  A.  Williams,  who  had  a 
book-store  and  a  depot  for  Redding's  Russia  Salve  at  8  State  Street, 
carried  on  this  tea  business.  At  their  store  was  Ar  Show,  a  Chinaman, 
the  first  Chinaman  to  live  in  Boston.  Above  the  tea-store  was 
Mooney's  hair-dressing  rooms,  and  on  the  top  floor  John  C.  Haskell, 
a  manufacturer,  was  established.  Redding  &  Company  w'ere 
succeeded  at  198  Washington  Street  by  Thomas  Whytal,  tea  dealer, 
and  Ar  Show  established  himself  at  21  Union  Street. 

After  the  death  of  Henry  Sargent  the  property  at  196  and  198 
Washington  Street — a  part  of  his  estate — was  ofi"ered  for  sale  and 
purchased  by  the  trustees  of  the  Estate  of  Joshua  Sears,  who  erected 
thereon  a  store  building  for  Macullar,  Williams  &  Parker.  This 
building  was  destroyed  in  the  Great  Fire  of  Nov.  9,  1872 — a  fire  which 
broke  out  on  Saturday  night— just  a  year  after  the  conflagration  in 
Chicago.  A  historian  tells  the  story — and  it  is  a  strange  one — of  a 
man,  unknown  in  his  day,  who  had  informed  himself  concerning  the 
material  composing  the  roofs  of  the  attractive  stores  in  which  the 
fire  originated,  and  who  wrote  a  letter  of  warning  to  one  of  the  daily 
papers  saying  that  if  fire  got  among  the  buildings  they  would  be 
devoured  like  so  much  chafi^.  In  condemning  the  Mansard  roofs,  he 
predicted  that  "when  that  dozen  lumber  yards  on  the  roofs  is  once 
full  of  fire  the  devouring  element  will  be  taken,  not  in  little  sparks 
only,  but  by  cords,  into  and  upon  every  building  within  half  a  mile. 
Every  window  on  the  line  of  the  gale  will  be  beaten  in  by  fiery  brands 
to  every  place  where  there  is  wood  for  fire  to  catch  upon,  and  fires  will 
soon  be  rushing  from  fifty  of  those  windows  or  roaring  from  the 
exposed  wood.  Such  a  fire  (and  it  will  surely  occur)  will  stop  just 
where  there  is  no  wood  to  burn.  The  earnest  men  of  the  fire  depart- 
ment will  be  inefficient.  There  will  come  the  story  so  lately  told  of 
Chicago:  'Awful  conflagration!  Boston  in  ruins!  Thousands  of 
homes  in  the  burned  portion  of  the  city  in  ashes!'"  This  conflagration 
predicted  did  come — much  to  Boston's  sorrow — and  the  story  is 
frequently  repeated.  A  horse  epidemic  had  broken  out,  which 
crippled  the  use  of  engines,  leaving  men  to  draw  them  instead  of  beasts 
of  burden.  The  flames  raged  for  hours,  sweeping  the  east  side  of 
Washington  Street  from  Summer  to  Milk,  and  leaving  only  the  white 


Henry 

Sargent 
once  Owner 
of  the  Site 


Ar  Show 
Boston's 
First 
Chinaman 


Buildiyig  of 
Macullar, 
IF il Hams  & 
Parker 
destroyed  by 
the  Great 
Fire  of  18 J2 


Prophecy 
concerning 
the  Fire 


28  SITES  on  an  OLD    THOROUGHFARE 

marble  fagade  of  iVlacullar,  Williams  &  Parker's  building  standing. 
The  Old  South  Meeting-house  was  injured  but  not  destroyed. 

The  present  building  occupied  by  Macullar  Parker  Company  was 
erected  after  the  fire,  and  its  plan  is  practically  the  same  as  the  one 
destroyed,  with  various  improvements  added.  No.  398  Washington 
Street  (formerly  192),  the  building  adjoining,  was  vacated  when  the 
firm  of  Palmers  &  Batchelders  retired  from  business,  and  this  was 
annexed  by  Macullar,  Parker  &  Company  and  a  new  department 
opened  there. 

Macullar,  Parker  &  Company  purchased  the  Joshua  M.  Sears 
Estate  in  1893.  It  is  now  owned  by  the  Business  Real  Estate  Trust 
of  Boston.  Numbered  200  Washington  Street  before  the  Great  Fire 
of  1872,  the  site  became  400  when  Washington  Street  was  extended 
to  Haymarket  Square. 

This  concludes  the  review  of  the  residents  and  changes  in  the 
locality  where  has  been  conducted  for  more  than  half  a  century  the 
business  of  Macullar  Parker  Company.  The  site  of  the  present 
building  furnishes  an  excellent  example  of  the  changes  Washington 
Street  has  undergone  from  the  days  of  the  first  settler,  through  nearly 
three  centuries  of  town  and  city  life,  to  the  present  time. 


m      CHRONOLOGY      M 

JS49 

Business  established  by  Addison  Macullar  in  Worcester,  Mass. 

1852 

Mr.  George  B.  Williams,  a  former  clerk  with  Mr.  Macullar,  is  taken  into  the 
firm,  and  Macullar,  Williams  &  Company  formed.  A  store  is  opened  in 
Boston  at  35  and  37  Ann  (now  North)  Street,  for  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  clothing  at  wholesale. 

1854 

The  firm  moved  to  47  Milk  Street. 

J857 

In  order  to  dispose  of  their  surplus  stock  the  firm  took  temporarily  the  Old 
Washington  CoflFee  House  building  at  158  Washington  Street.  This  was  the 
first  large  clothing  stock  to  be  exhibited  on  Washington  Street. 

i860 

The  company  removes  to  192  Washington  Street,  the  store  formerly  occupied 
by  George  W.  Warren  &  Company.  Mr.  Charles  W.  Parker,  for  some  years 
associated  with  the  firm  "as  boy,  book-keeper,  and  salesman,"  was  admitted 
to  the  firm,  the  name  being  changed  to  Macullar,  Williams  &:  Parker. 

1864 

Removed  to  new  building  at  200  Washington  Street,  erected  for  the  company 
by  the  Joshua  Sears  Estate.  This  building  was  burned  in  the  Great  Fire  of 
1872.     33  Washington  Street  was  occupied  during  the  rebuilding. 

1884 

The  adjoining  store,  192-198  (now  392-398),  was  annexed.     This  is  the  site 

of  the  old  Warren  store  previously  occupied  in  i860. 

1895 

The  business  was  incorporated  as  Macullar  Parker  Company. 

1918 

At  the  expiration  of  leases  of  the  two  stores  the  business  was  consolidated  in 
400  Washington  Street,  some  6,000  square  feet  being  added  by  connecting 
the  Hawley  Street  and  Washington  Street  buildings  at  each  of  the  five  floors. 

MACULLAR  PARKER  COMPANY 

19  I  8 

James  L.  Wessox,  President  and  Treasurer 
Hatherly  Foster,  Assistant  Trcasnrer 
Ross  Parker,  ]'ice  President 
Herman  Parker,  Clerk 

30 


3  1205  02528  6020 


W3  rni^ 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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STAMPED  BELOW. 


\CILITY 

III 


Series  9482 


